


Power Words

by scyler23



Series: Shorts and Outtakes [11]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, REally rocky start, Rocky start, Soul Sickness, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, This got ugly fast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-06-20 02:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15524193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scyler23/pseuds/scyler23
Summary: This one's gonna hurt. I can tell you guys that right now. I know that for a fact. Even if I continue this one it's gonna be ugly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This one's gonna hurt. I can tell you guys that right now. I know that for a fact. Even if I continue this one it's gonna be ugly.

Soulmates. Not a common topic nowadays. Most people either wanted to find their other half while the rest of the world could care less. Nyx found himself in the seconds category. He had words, running up his left forearm, words he’d heard a hundred times over but they never clicked as the ones he needed to hear. Crow and Libertus knew what they said, they too had heard those words often enough. They knew just how much it hurt every time he heard them and there was no spark. Admittedly they liked to rib him about the words and the whole soulmate thing in general. Today unfortunately, was not really a good day for the ribbing.

 

The glaive had just gotten back from a grueling mission after having taken heavy losses. Several of those lost had soulmates who were being officially informed of their losses. He could hear the wailing of at least two of them at the official news. The sound echoed through the Citadel, giving the ornate building a haunted quality. Libertus made a passing comment about how he was grateful not to have met his soulmate. Nyx growled lowly at the comment and stormed off. He still had his hood and mask up so he missed seeing someone walking in the opposite direction. Nyx crashed into another person sharply.

 

 _“You stupid idiot! Watch where the fuck you’re walking,”_ he hissed in Galahdian.

 

Ignoring the sharp intake of breath he continued down the hall. He totally missed seeing the wide eyed look in the Crown Prince’s face as one hand lightly touched the dark band around his throat. Nyx was so wrapped up in his anger and frustration that he didn’t feel the tightening of his skin the farther he got from the younger man. By the time he made it back to his apartment in the immigrant district the feeling had faded and he was just worn out. Maybe tomorrow would be better for him.

 

-Next Week-

 

Crowe, Nyx, and Libertus were lounging on the steps around the edges of the Kingsglaive training ground. It had been about a week since the debacle of a mission, a week of recovering and relaxing. Now it was time to get back to training. Nyx was just waiting around for his trainee. That’s right, Nyx had a trainee. As of right now, said trainee was late. Once again Libertus was rubbing his best friend about the soulmate thing again.

 

“Dude, you never know. Finding them night not be such a bad thing,” the larger man said slowly, more than a little aware of just how volatile Nyx could get with this kind of topic.

 

“I don’t give a damn. It’s never going to happen,” Nyx growled slowly. “I don’t need a soulmate. Nor do I ever want to know mine. Whether they find me or not.”

 

There was a sharp sound behind them, like someone stumbling over a heavy object. Turning they found themselves looking at the wide eyed prince. He was leaning heavily against one of the pillars, clearly having just arrived. Nyx vaguely remembered that the Prince was the person he was supposed to be training with. He was supposed to be helping the younger man control his warping ability. The king had taught his son the basics, but couldn't keep up with the younger man enough to teach him anything more than that. To that end Noctis was assigned to work with the glaive on his warping abilities.

 

Noctis stood there, eyes fixed on Nyx and mouth working before he finally found his voice, “I... I’m sorry. I forgot... I- I need to go. I’m sorry”

 

No sooner had the words left his lips that Nyx realized that his arm was burning. His left arm, the one where those same words were written in an elegant but still somehow messy hand. Before he could do more than move to stand the prince bolted. Noctis took off at a dead run out of the training ground building and across the street. Nyx took of after him, hoping to catch the younger man. By the time he made it to the front of the building however the prince was gone. He could barely make out the fading blue phantoms of a warp left behind by the young royal leading away form the building and deep into the city. Nyx all but collapsed against one of the light posts at the edge of the street, staring at the fading phantom until it was no more.

 

“Nyx! What the hell has gotten into you?” Libertus shouted as he caught up with his best friend.

 

“Libs... Shit... I fucked up...” Nyx’s voice was barely audible, silvery-blue eyes wide.

 

“How? What happened, Nyx?” Crowe appeared at his side, gently resting a hand on his shoulder.

 

Nyx looked at the woman who was practically his sister for a moment before swallowing, “It’s him. He is my soulmate and I just said I never wanted anything to do with him.”

 

-With Noctis-

 

Falling out of a not very well placed warp Noctis crashed into the roof of an abandoned building. He had no idea where in the city he was. All he knew was that he was impossibly far away from his soulmate, the man who wanted nothing to do with him at all. He might not be able to read the first words actually said to him but he found that he would have rather had the man’s real thoughts of him there instead of apparent gibberish.

 

Curling in on himself Noctis finally allowed himself to cry. It wasn't often anymore that he cried, and it was only in private that I actually felt safe enough to do so. But right here, right now, after being practically rejected by his soulmate before even getting the chance to talk to him? Now felt like a good time to say screw propriety. Now he felt like his world had just been ripped out from under him. Soft sobs turned into heart wrenching wails as everything settled in his mind.

 

Despite not knowing what the words said he’d always been eager to find the person who said them. Now that he had, and the only way he realized was by the man’s voice (he didn't even know the man’s name!) , he was wishing he didn’t know.  It hurt. It hurt so much to think that the one person who was supposed to see him for more than just his title and his power wanted nothing to do with him. Noctis collapsed onto the roof, still crying. He didn’t know how long he laid there bawling but eventually he calmed down enough to feel his phone buzzing him his pocket. Carefully he fished it out and answered the call.

 

“H-hello?” he hated the way his voice trembled and cracked but couldn’t do anything about it.

 

“Noct? What happened? Are you alright?” Ignis asked, immediately catching onto the tremble in his charge and friend’s voice.

 

Noctis took a deep breath through his nose, sounding more like a sniff than anything, before responding, “No. no I’m not OK, Iggy...”

 

“What happened?” the adviser demanded and the prince could hear him practically running down a hall.

 

“I... I’ll tell you when you come get me,” Noctis whispered back, curling into a ball.

 

“Come get you? I’m at the Kingsglaive training hall where your supposed to be. Where are you?”

 

“I don’t know... I’m on a roof somewhere in an abandoned section of the city. Come find me... Please...” Noctis knew he was begging and probably sounded totally pathetic but he really didn’t care.

 

“Stay put. I’m on my way,” Ignis whispered softly. “I will find you just stay where you are and leave your phone on.”

 

Noctis mumbled an affirmative before both hung up carefully. He just lay where he was, phone cradled in one loose hand. For all he knew it could have been hours from the time he call ended to the time the phone rang again. Everything seemed to just move in slow motion, hell he might have fallen asleep just laying there. He didn’t know, but when his phone rang again he made sure to answer it.

 

“Noctis, I’m here. I can’t come into the building because it’s condemned. I’m sorry but you will have to come to me,” Ignis’s voice was soothing and Noctis was grateful.

 

Pushing himself slowly to his knees the prince moved closer to the edge. Looking down he saw the elegant car idling in the street with the bespectacled man standing at the open driver’s side door. Taking a deep breath the prince pushed himself to his feet and summoned a short sword.

 

“I’m on my way down, Iggy,” he whispered.

 

“Be careful.”

 

Noctis didn’t say anything before hanging up. Taking a deep breath again he threw the sword. No sooner had it connected with the ground that he warped after it. His landing was decidedly off and hue tumbled against the car when he hit the ground. Ignis was by his side mere moments later, gently pulling the prince to his feet. The dark haired young man almost started crying right then and there. He managed to mostly contain himself, as it was a few tears rolled down his face.

 

It was only after both of them were settled in the car that Ignis spoke again, “I know you probably don’t want to tell me what happened but I am here to listen if you do wish to talk.”

 

“Thanks, Iggy. Right now, I just wanna go home,” Noctis murmured leaning his head against the window. “Please...”

 

Ignis says nothing, he just drives them back to Noctis’s apartment. The drive is silent, with Ignis wondering what in  the world was enough to make Noctis cry and the other man just watching everything fly past them. It took them twenty minutes to get back to the apartment. Twenty minutes of silence that was more than a little unnerving for the adviser. He quickly got his friend settled in his room with a mug of hot chocolate, all wrapped up in his bed sheets.

 

“Will you tell me what happened, now?” Ignis begged softly.

 

Noctis sipped at his drink for a moment before taking a deep breath, “I... I found him.”

 

“Him? Him who?”

 

“My soulmate,” Noct’s voice was barely above a whisper and he looked like he was about to cry again. “I found him and he-!”

 

Ignis wrapped his arms around his friend, carefully taking the mug from limp fingers. Soothing a hand through midnight hair the adviser made soothing sounds. Something really bad must have happened to make the heir to the throne cry so much. Ignis found that he really wanted nothing more than to just hurt whoever hurt the sweet young man in his arms. He stayed wrapped around the prince for a few more moments before Noctis gathered the will to speak again.

 

“He... he said...,” Noct might have found his voice again but it was clearly hard for him to actually get the words out. “He said he wants nothing to do with me.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! I hope you're all excited! I sure am! Today for your reading pleasure I have chapter 2 of Power Words! *Pops confetti poppers* Yay! Anyway, this chapter is kind a painful and little ugly (lots of little line breaks sorry!) But I hope you like it anyway! Also, thank you to everyone who left comments or kudos! I'm so happy, you guys!

Ignis wanted to say that things would get better but he had a feeling that would only upset his friend more. Instead he just curled around the smaller man and held him as he cried. After what felt like hours the younger man fell into an exhausted sleep. Carefully Ignis gathered the smaller man into his arms, moving toward the bedroom carefully. After settling Noctis into his bed he moved back into the main room, pulling out his phone as he did. There was a missed call from Drautos. Sighing he pushed the call back icon. 

 

“I thought his Highness was supposed to be training with Ulric today,” the Captain said in lieu of a greeting. “Where is he?” 

 

“He wasn’t feeling well and is home resting. It will be sometime before training can actually begin, unfortunately. I apologize for any inconvenience, Captain,” Ignis replied with as much decorum as he could manage. 

 

Drautos huffed before replying, “Fine, just let me know when he’s feeling up to training and I’ll see who’s available.” 

 

“Thank you, Captain. Have a wonderful day,” Ignis said with a forced smile as he hung up, not waiting to hear the other man’s response. 

 

Slipping the phone into his pocket he set about tidying up the apartment. It would be some time before Noctis woke up, hopefully. That gave him time to plan a few things out, such as how to explain that Noct wasn’t going to be training with the Glaive for a while yet. Rolling his shoulders he settled into the kitchen to make a nice soup for when Noctis finally woke up. It would give him time to think 

 

-Three Weeks later-

 

As it turned out Ignis didn’t need to implement any fancy plans or devious schemes. Shortly after the debacle of trying to get the prince to train with the Glaive news of a Nif attack reached the city. The Glaive was sent out almost in its entirety to deal with the attack. Ignis didn’t know which glaive had been the one to upset Noctis but he was certain that they had been sent on the mission. Though he was now worried for a different reason. 

 

About two days after the Glaive had been sent out Noctis started losing his appetite. True, he was a picky eater at the best of times but now he refused to even eat some of his favorites. As the week came to a close he stopped eating almost entirely. The second week saw him moving back into his rooms at the Citadel and then not coming out of them. He refused visits from both his father and his adviser. Even Prompto, his best friend, had a hard time getting him to let him in. By the middle of the third week no one saw or heard anything from the prince at all. No one was even sure that he was even still in his rooms. Everyone was getting really worried about the young heir. Unfortunately there was nothing to do but wait and see if he came out on his own. 

 

-With the Glaive-

 

“What the hell do you mean ‘he’s probably not going to make it’?” He’s gotten hit far worse than this and still managed to survive! That man is a fucking cockroach!” Crowe shouted at the doctor as they stood outside of a plain hospital room. 

 

“I’m sorry, Miss Altius. I can’t heal whats wrong with him,” the doctor sighed. “I can put his body back together but his very soul is what needs fixing.” 

 

“His soul?” Libertus asked, pushing himself out of his chair. 

 

“What do you mean his soul needs fixing?” Crowe growled, eyes narrowing. 

 

The doctor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I can’t disclose that information. Only his family should-!” 

 

“We are his family!” Crowe shouted as she slammed the man against the wall by his collar. 

 

The man struggled for a moment and the mage backed off just enough to let him speak, “Nyx Ulric is suffering from a sickness of the soul. It happens when a soulmate bond is formed but then, somehow, believes it has been rejected by both parties. The bond decays, slowly killing both parties. Unfortunately the process has been expedited by his injuries. He had maybe a few hours left before it fades completely, taking him with it.”

 

Crowe dropped the man and staggered back, dark eyes wide. Libertus was at her side in an instant. He carefully wrapped the woman in his arms as her knees gave out. Nyx was dying. It was unheard of. He had been through hell and back only to have a decaying soulmate bond be his killer. Libertus looked through the little window into the room. Nyx looked like he was already dead. His skin was washed out and his breathing was shallow, almost nonexistent. Gritting his teeth the glaive looked back at the doctor. 

 

“You said you couldn’t fix this right?” he ground out. 

 

“T-that’s right,” he gulped, looking nervous. 

 

“What will fix this?” Libertus was starting the loose his patience with the man and it was showing. 

 

The doctor gulped again before speaking, “Only bringing his soul mate here will stop the decay and save his life.” 

 

Crowe jumped as if shocked. Quickly she extracted herself from her friend's arms, all but demanding he stay and keep her updated. The doctor shouted at her to wait and not to run in the hall, but she didn’t listen. Libertus watched her go with a grim look. He knew exactly where she was going. Looking back at the hospital room he just hoped that she wasn’t going to be too late. 

 

-Citadel Gates-

 

Crowe knew she had no time at all to save her best friend. So she broke the Glaive’s biggest rule; no warping in the city. With her seldom used spear in had she took off across the city. In what felt like no time at all she was running up the stairs of the Citadel. Bolting through the doors she ignored all the strange looks she knew she had to be getting. I mean, come on! A frantic member of the Kingsglaive bursting through the front doors in a dirty and torn uniform? That was bound to get a lot of attention. 

 

Spotting a young man with glasses that she vaguely recognized at the prince’s adviser she reached out to him, “Hey!” 

 

The man jolted and gave her a wide eyed stare, “Y-yes? Can I help you?”

 

“I need to find his highness. Please, it’s important!” she gasped letting go of his arm as the strain of warping across the city started catching up to her. 

 

“He’s in his rooms,” the man began, trailing off as she started in that direction, “But he’s not allowing visitors.” 

 

Swearing colorfully in Galahdian she took off at a run. The sound of footsteps behind her told her that the man was following. The pair raced through the halls, people diving out of their way. Crowe practically had to slide to make herself stop before slamming into the ornate door of the prince’s rooms. As she gathered her bearings the young man following her came up beside her. 

 

“Excuse me! Did you not hear what I sad? His Highness isn’t taking visitors right now!” he cried, getting in front of the woman. 

 

“Please, I really need to see him. It’s important,” Crowe knew she sounded like she was begging but couldn’t bring herself to care. 

 

“I don’t care. No visitors means no visitors,” Ignis said with a glare as he folded his arms.

 

Crowe growled before looking up at him, “My best friend is dying and the only one who can save him is His Highness!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments, kudos and/or bookmarks! They feed my soul!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go people! This one got ugly. We finally find out just what kind of state poor Noctis is in. This boy needs a hug so bad... *sad face* Anyway please enjoy! Also I am working on new parts for a lot of the fics in this series. You just have to bear with me on them. I am flip flopping between quite a few fandoms to get all this stuff down. Stay tuned people!

Ignis backpedaled slightly, almost running into the door. Wide green eyes stared at the woman in front of him. She looked like she was about two seconds from bursting into tears. He knew who she was. Hell, just about everyone who worked for the Crown knew who the best mage of the Kingsglaive was. What was also commonly known was that she only really spent any time with two other Glaive’s, Nyx Ulric and Libertus Ostium. Something people didn’t know, however, was that she treated Libertus like he was her older brother. That left Nyx as the best friend. 

 

“W-what do you mean his Highness is the only one who can save your best friend?” Ignis asked slowly, eyebrows pulling together delicately. 

 

Crowe finally managed to get enough air to stop gasping like a fish and stood up, “Nyx got hurt real bad on this last mission. It... made something that was already wrong with him... worse. It’s killing him, despite the doctor’s being able to fix his body.” 

 

“There is only one thing that could...” Ignis trailed off before his eyes widened again. “Son of a bitch!” 

 

Crowe startled at hearing the normally composed man curse even as he whirled around and started knocking on the prince’s door. At first nothing seemed to happen. Ignis was reaching for his key to the apartments when there was a soft clicking sound. Reaching slowly for the door Ignis took a deep breath. Glancing behind him he saw the mage chewing on her lip in worry. 

 

“Stay quiet and stay close, alright? No one has seen his Highness in three weeks. I don’t know how he will react,” Ignis murmured softly, only opening the door after getting a quick nod. 

 

Stepping into the room was like walking into a war zone. Ignis heard Crowe gasp softly behind him as the moved father into the room. He was having a hard time processing what he was seeing too. This wasn’t like Noctis. Even at his moodiest the prince had never tried to trash a space so completely. How he managed to do it without alerting anyone was even more amazing. This kind of destruction should have drawn guards and other denizens of the Citadel. The sound of something shifting brought both intruders attention to the window. Noctis was stretched out in the large bay window, blue eyes fixed on the world outside. It had been his leg twitching that shifted a broken table leg across the floor. 

 

“Noct?” Ignis called softly, not sure how his friend and charge was going to react. 

 

Slowly, painfully, Noctis turned to look at the tawny haired man. One gloved hand flew to Ignis’s mouth when he got a good look at his friend. Noctis looked like a ghost. His eyes were sunken into his face, his cheeks were hollowed out and his skin was white as paper. That wasn’t even the worst of it. His neck, where he normally wore a black choker to cover up his soulmark was covered in dried blood. Noctis twitched a hand slightly in an aborted wave at his friend. The move drew both people’s eyes to his bloody fingers. Apparently he’d tried to claw the words from his skin. Ignis had a sickening feeling that even after all of that the words were still going to be there. 

 

“Noct, what... happened?” Ignis almost couldn’t bring himself to speak as he stepped slowly closer. 

 

Noctis gave him a tight smile before speaking, voice horse with disuse, “Sorry, Iggy... I... don’t know...” 

 

Glancing back at Crowe Ignis moved closer to his friend. The other allowed him to gently take one bony wrist gently in his hands. Crowe stayed back, watching with silent tears streaming down her face. She wanted nothing more than to blame Nyx for this but she knew it wasn't his fault. It was the Astrals who really deserved her ire. If they hadn’t given Nyx such generic words then this probably would have been avoided. As it was they had to deal with the aftermath. She just hoped that Ignis could convince the young heir to come with them to the hospital to try and save both of their lives. 

 

“Lady Altuis,” Ignis's calm voice snapped her out of whatever head-space she’d been occupying. 

 

“Y-yes?” she stammered, hating herself for the hitch. “What do you need?”

 

“You said Sir Ulric was injured badly, correct?” Ignis glanced over his shoulder at her. 

 

Crowe nodded quickly, “That’s right. According to the doctor the injuries made everything worse and sped up the decay of their soul bond, or something like that. The doc said he only had a few hours left.”

 

“Then we need to hurry,” Ignis wasted no time in pulling the limp prince into his arms. 

 

Noctis gave a token protest at being carried, but was unable to put any effort into it at all. Crowe preceded them to the door, quickly scooping a long robe off the floor. After shaking the glass and bits of debris out of it she tucked it carefully around the prince. Ignis shot her a grateful look before ducking through the door. They made quick work of getting down to the garage unnoticed. Carefully Ignis settled the prince into the passenger seat of a Crown issue car before climbing into the driver’s seat. Once the glaive was settled in the back seat he took off. It took ten long minutes to get away from the Citadel’s district and out into the city proper. Crowe was a nervous wreck in the back seat the whole time, but once they were out of the district Ignis was quick to push all the limits of the law. 

 

Checking her watch she swore softly, about an hour and a half had passed since she left the hospital. At least that’s what she thought. She didn’t know exactly when she left or how long it took to get to the Citadel. Looking out the window at the passing buildings she fidgeted in her seat a bit. The soft sound of Noctis shifting drew her attention. Ignis glanced at his charge with a worried look, but couldn’t spare the royal much attention. Shifting forward she set a hand on the advisers shoulder briefly before turning to the prince. 

 

“Highness?” she called softly, setting a gentle hand on his leg.

 

“Don’t... Please...” he whispered brokenly, voice cracking over every syllable.

 

She started to lift her hand, thinking the touch was unwanted, when Noctis whimpered slightly. He shifted as best he could to try and maintain the contact. That’s when it hit her; he had been holed up alone in his rooms for three weeks. While not a very tactile person to begin with the young royal was probably touch starved after his self imposed isolation. The collapsing of his soulbond was probably a major factor as well. Carefully she resettled her hand, getting a soft sigh in response. That only left one thing for him to protest. Taking a deep breath she steeled herself for breaking another rule. 

 

“Noctis...” the prince’s given name was foreign on her tongue but it seemed to be exactly what he wanted to hear as hazy blue eyes met brown. “Hold tight, Noct. We’ll be there soon.” 

 

Noctis was silent for a few moments before he found his voice again, “He... he won’t want... doesn’t want...” 

 

“Who, Nyx? Of course he wants you. He’s wanted a soulmate ever since he started getting his words. Of course he wants you,” Crowe was quick to assure gently squeezing the prince thigh. 

 

“Then why...?” Noctis looked like the was about to start crying and Crowe felt her heart break. 

 

“He’s heard his words a hundred times over from people who weren’t you. People who thought they were his soulmate or that he was there’s. He’s heard it so many times but never felt the connection,” she whispered, feeling her own tears threatening to fall. “That is until three weeks ago when you were supposed to train with him. He never meant what he said. Nyx was just upset and tired of hearing Libertus rib him about it. There isn’t a cruel bone in that man’s body, I promise you that.” 

 

Noctis was silent for the rest of the ride. Thankfully they were nearing the hospital. Crowe checked her watch again. Another twenty minutes lost. Closing her eyes she prayed that they still had time. They had barely pulled close when Ignis was telling her to get out and take the prince inside. The mage was quick to jump out and carefully haul the prince into her arms. Had he been at his usual form it would have been hard. As it was he was so light, so thin, that she had no problems hoisting him up. 

 

“Crowe!” 

 

Ignis’s shout made her pause halfway to the door. She turned slightly to find him standing on the other side of the car, a worried look on his face. Smiling she gave him a nod before bolting into the building. Ignis took a deep breath before sliding back into the vehicle. Leaning forward he pressed his head to the steering wheel for a moment. 

 

“I pray that we are not too late...” he whispered before heading for a parking spot. 

 

-With Crowe-

 

Crowe wasted no more time dawdling once she was through the doors. Several nurses turned toward her and the prince but the look on her face must have been enough of a deterrent. She walked quickly and carefully so as not to jostle her fragile companion. As she got farther into the building she started hearing the rest of the injured glaives. They had all been put up in the same ward, so as to make it easier to get to all of them should something happen. Nearing Nyx’s room she could hear Libertus arguing with someone. Glancing down at Noctis she got a soft, barely there, nod from the prince before breaking into a light jog. Rounding the corner she got the gist of the conversation. 

 

“You can’t do that, Doc! He’s still got time!” Libertus shouted from where he was standing in the doorway. 

 

“This is only prolonging the inevitable and hurting him further. It would be quick and painless this way,” the doctor gave a weary sigh as he massaged his temples, the nurse behind him looking nervous. 

 

“It’ll kill him!” Libertus spat back, absolutely furious, “It’ll kill him and who he’s connected to! You have no right!” 

 

Before the doctor could speak again Crowe spoke up, “Libertus! Door!” 

 

The large man had barely heard her voice before he was pushing open the door for her. She slipped in quickly hearing the door shut behind her and the doctor’s exasperated protests.Taking a deep breath the mage stepped further into the room. Nyx was exactly where she left him, almost two hours ago now, only he looked worse. She choked back a sob at the sight of her best friend. Noctis hearing the sound managed to turn his head to look at the man in the bed. A low whine left the heir as cloudy blue eyes settled on his soulmate.  

 

“Hold on, hold on,” she whispered when she felt the prince start struggling.

 

Stepping quickly over to the bed she found that there was just enough room to lay the prince down on Nyx’s right side. He shifted almost immediately so that he was practically wrapped around the other man. Crowe could almost see his skin color change once the prince grabbed his exposed wrist. Slowly, almost painfully, he brought Nyx’s hand to the side of his neck. Sighing softly he buried his face in the side of the glaive’s neck. Crowe stepped back slowly as the royal relaxed. Things stayed quiet for a few moments before a commotion outside the door drew her attention. Before she could reach for the door it burst open. Not expecting the sudden move the mage called a fireball to her hand before she even registered that the intruder was in fact the doctor. 

 

“What the hell, Doc?! You should know better than to just burst into a room like that! Especially when it’s got a fully functional glaive in it!” Crowe shouted as she banished the fireball. 

 

The doctor paid her no mind as he pushed past her into the room. He was about to order the nurse with him to start disconnecting Nyx from the machines when the woman gasped. Turning to the bed the doctor froze as well. Noctis had shifted the robe mostly off of his face allowing the newcomers to see just who was laying next to the glaive. The sound of the monitors changing snapped the doctor back to reality. Shaking himself carefully he stepped closer to the bed. Quickly he checked all the monitors and levels, muttering to himself the whole time. Pulling back he had a mildly confused look on his face. 

 

“Something wrong, Doc?” Libertus asked slowly, irritation dripping of his tone. 

 

“I... I don’t understand... His vitals... They’re stabilizing...” the man trailed off before looking at the prince once more. “Only the presence of his soulmate should be having this kind of effect.” 

 

“That’s because that’s what's going on,” Crowe growled lowly. 

 

The doctor just stared at her for a few seconds before looking back at the bed. By now Nyx seemed to have regained enough semblance of his surroundings to turn his head toward the prince. Noctis was asleep with a faint smile on his face. It was amazing that he’d even been able to sleep through Crowe shouting at the doctor. Already his skin was starting to look less like paper and more like actual skin. Nyx was also starting to look more like a human and less like a skeleton. 

 

“Doc, I think it’s time you left,” Libertus all but growled at the still stunned man. 

 

The doctor didn’t even try to argue as the large man ushered both himself and the nurse out of the room. No sooner had the door shut behind him the prince shifted slightly. Crowe was quick to get to his side before he tried to get all the way up. Libertus stayed just behind her as she gently set one hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Noctis?” she called softly, not wanting to disturb him if he wasn’t really awake. 

 

“We got here just in time...” the prince’s voice was soft and still cracking horribly. 

 

Crowe found herself relaxing at the words, “Thank the gods...” 

 

Libertus let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was even holding. They made it. Nyx was gonna be just fine. Now they just had to wait for him to wake up. Crowe smiled and moved her hand to gently stroke the prince’s head. He turned into the gesture briefly before turning to bury his face in Nyx’s neck once again. Within moments he was asleep once more. Looking up at Libertus the mage nodded at the door. With a quick nod he resumed his place outside the room. There was nothing better to do but wait. At least now they had time to do just that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments, kudos and/or bookmarks! They feed my soul!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! This has actually been sitting in the document for a few days now... Sorry... I thought I was going to add more to this chapter but after looking at it and re-reading it didn't seem right. So here is this chapter and the next is in the works, I promise.

By the time Ignis made it around to the room Nyx was in the prince was practically wrapped around the glaive. Crowe was sitting in a chair beside the bed and smiled at the adviser when he walked in. Libertus gave the tawny haired man a pat on the shoulder before closing the door behind him. Walking slowly over to where the woman was sitting Ingis couldn’t help but smile a the prince’s appearance. His skin was well on the way back to being a healthy shade and the bags under his eyes were less pronounced. 

 

“They are doing better, Ignis. They are going to be alright,” she murmured smiling up at the man. “We made it here just in time.” 

 

“Thank the Six...” Ignis sighed, tension bleeding off of him. 

 

Crowe smiled at him before turning back to the pair. It had been more than a little nerve wracking to wait while the doctor checked over both men. She'd already known what was wrong with her best friend, but hearing about the prince was heartbreaking. Noctis hadn’t properly eaten anything in two weeks, not to mention the fact that he tried to claw off the words from around his throat. Not only were the wounds healing slowly but it seemed that they were infected because of the debris in the prince’s room. Ignis had sent someone to clean up the royal’s room only for them to report back that they were going to have to renovate the whole suite. 

 

Noctis had apparently managed to simultaneously scorch and freeze everything in his room before apparently taking a weapon to everything. How he managed to do that without alerting the guards was amazing. Normally just the sound of breaking furniture would have had at least two guards at the door in an instant. 

 

“It is both terrifying and quite amazing that he was able to cause such damage without alerting a single soul,” Ignis murmured as he stepped close enough to gently run his fingers through the royal’s hair. 

 

Crowe just hummed softly, watching the careful way the adviser touched his charge.  Noctis clearly men a lot to the other man for him to be so worried and so protective of the heir. It went beyond Ignis just being his adviser, this was more like and older brother looking out for the younger. Crowe smiled softly at that before a low sound dragged her attention to Nyx. The man shifted in his sleep, eyes fluttering slowly. Standing carefully the mage moved to place her hand on his shoulder, vaguely aware of Ignis backing up a few paces. 

 

“Nyx?” she called softly, not wanting to rush her friend if he wasn’t really ready to wake up. 

 

Blinking slowly hazy silver eyes tried to focus on the brunette, “Crowe?”

 

“I’m here, you idiot,” she murmured carefully running a hand over his head, smiling despite the way his voice sounded like sandpaper. 

 

“Water...” he croaked slowly leaning into her hand even as his eyes closed again. 

 

The woman didn’t even have to move before a glass with a long straw in it was held out to her. Turning she saw Ignis smiling softly at her and nodding. Smirking she took the glass and turned back to Nyx. Carefully adjusting him so the movement didn’t disturb the prince was something of a miracle but she managed it. After taking a few sips he tried to lift a hand to push her away. 

 

He didn’t get very far before Noctis whined softly at the motion. The sound had Nyx looking down, suddenly realizing that there was someone else in the bed with him. Silver blue eyes widened at the sight of the tangled dark hair of the Crown Prince of Lucis just under his chin. Looking slowly back at Crowe he finally noticed Ignis standing just behind her. 

 

Opening his mouth he croaked, voice still rough, “Wha..?”

 

“You were dying, both of you. You’re soul bond was decaying because of what happened three weeks ago,” Crowe whispered as she carefully sat back down in her chair. “Getting hurt like you did made everything worse and accelerated things. You almost killed yourself and the prince, not that anyone would have known that.”

 

“What do you mean?” Nyx rasped, hating himself for even asking but needing to know. 

 

It was Ignis who answered, just as softly, “ His Highness locked himself in his rooms at the Citadel for the last few weeks. No one was allowed in and he did not come out. When Lady Altius came looking for him we discovered that he had completely destroyed his rooms. That should have had guards there the moment the commotion started, but no one knew at all.” 

 

Nyx just looked down at the royal on his chest. Beneath his fingers he could feel the bandages around the other’s throat. Finger tightening briefly he remembered that, unlike most people, the prince actually had his words wrapped around his throat like a collar. Frowning slightly Nyx cursed internally as the implications of the bandages settled in. 

 

Cursing internally Nyx smoothed his fingers across the bandages even as he buried his face in the prince’s tangled dark hair. He’d been dumb enough to say that he didn’t want his soul mate right as he walked within earshot. There should be no coming back from that, but here was the prince, curled into his side like he had no intention of ever letting him go. Carefully, so as not to pull on everything attached to him, he brought his right hand up to rest on Noctis’s hip. The royal sighed and he could feel the fluttering of the other’s eyelashes against his neck as Noctis woke. 

 

“Wha?” Noctis mumbled as he shifted against Nyx, barely managing not to dislodge the other’s hand from around his neck.

 

“You’re awake,” Crowe murmured, prompting the prince to turn his head to try and look at her.

 

Nyx’s hand tightened on the prince’s hip when he moved, causing Noctis to freeze. Slowly Noctis lifted his head from the glaive’s shoulder, blue eyes wide. Soft silver eyes met the royal’s wide gaze even as Nyx’s thumb smoothed over his hip. Taking a deep breath Noctis sat up slowly, trying not to fully break contact with the other but needing to look him in the face without having to feel like he was going to break his neck doing it. 

 

“You... I...” Noctis tried to speak but he was having a hard time finding the words until Nyx squeezed his thigh softly. 

 

“I fucked up, I’m sorry. There is literally nothing I can say that can fix what’s already been done but... will you... at least... let me... try?” Nyx said only to dissolve into a rough coughing fit by the end of it. 

 

The moment the glaive started coughing Noctis was already reaching for him. Looking over at Crowe had the mage carefully handing over the glass of water. Giving her a shallow nod he carefully tucked himself into Nyx’s side, one hand rubbing up and down his back in an effort to help stop the fit. After a few moments the fit subsided and one of Nyx’s shaking hands wrapped slowly around the glass. Noctis curled a little closer as the other  took several large gulps of water. 

 

“Crowe gave me a bit of backstory on why you said what you did... I’m not saying that I completely forgive you for it, but...” Noctis trailed off for a moment before taking a deep breath and continuing. “I am willing to talk about this, to give you a chance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments, kudos and/or bookmarks! They feed my soul!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments, kudos and/or bookmarks! They feed my soul!


End file.
